Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-02-11
ROMANCE OF A FIR PILLOW

s.sss.t---------
Rom lANCE OF A FIR PILLOW
Harper's Bazaar. ..s ID. 4 5#s
He was q bright, handsome young
kllow Of perhaps Eve and twenty.
while !, demure spinster we'll into
I the fifties, looked quite old enough to
! be his mother.
So the gossips at the little summer
hotel where we were boarding could
really find nothing to say, though we
often had long talks together, this
young Jack Turner and myself, when
we happened to meet in the parlor or
out on the piazzas. ~. 3 . u, VI
The special craze among our young
lady boarders just then was the
making Of all sorts Of pretty
pillows, which they filled with
pine needles or buds of the fra.
grant balsam fir, and embroidered
with various appropriate notices,
such as "Dream OF the woods" '"The
pines shall whisper peace" "Give me
of your balm, o Fir-tree," ETC., etc.
And as the picking OF these pine nee.
dies and pitchy fir-tips was 6isagreea-
bic work for dainty white fingers, it
was quite the fashion for all the chiv-
alric young men in the house to vol.
unteer their services in this initiatory
part OF the work. Moreover, there
was not a little rivalry among them
as to who should find the most fra
grant trees, Il species OF the balsam
Fir denominated strawberry" being
therarest and most in demand.
was therefore not at all surprised
when this new acquaintance OF mine,
having found out my botanic procliv.
titles, came to me one bright morning
with on immense tow bag slung across
his shoulders, and announced his in
tention of picking fir in some remote
woods on the other side ofthe mount
ain. Would 60 with him and show
him the right kind of a tree? He had
brought back n whole bagful OF worth
less stuff the day before, and all be-
cause he couldn't tell q spruce tree
from q fir.
How could [ resist such a pathetic
appeal-especially when he Gould show
me in this particular piece of woods q
rare and beautiful species of orchid
that had long been trying to find?
No. could't refuse So Jack with
his bag and l with my basket started
off in high spirits that glorious sum-
ner morning. It was one Of those
rare days i'll July when cool breath
from the mountains tempered the
midsummer heat and gave me an exhil
arating sense OF what Longfellow
calls
" " the electric thrill, the touch
Ollie that seems almost too much.
The three miles walk around the
mountain seemed as nothing, and we
soon reached our destination, the
broad, dark belt OF woodland that
enclosed, like a, velvet girdle, the pict-
uresque little lake at the foot OF the
highest peak. Jack had proved HIM
self q most entertaining companion
all the way. He reminded me of q
dear young: nephew l had lost, and,
although a week before we had been
total strangers, was glad to notice
that he seemed to regard me already
as an old and tried friend. Upon one
subject, however, he was very reticent.
When had found for him clump of
the genuine "strawberry" tree and
jokingly asked him for which OF our
pretty young ladies he was going to
pick the fir, he looked up quickly, and
then, with a confused look on his
frank countenance, said:
"Oh, it is for no one here; it is for
some one miles and miles away. And
do you think" he added, with an alb
stracted air quite foreign to his usual
manner, chat it is really a cure for
consumption"
Hardly cure" I answered, sol
though I've known it to give, relief in
many cases ofconhrmed lung trouble"
The young man sighed heavily.
"Well," he replied, after a long silence,
II am determined to try everything
For her"
OF course, my sympathies were I'M
mediately aroused. I began at once
to picture to myself the pale young
girl in her far-oH home, fading away
day by day, like some frail, sweet
flower.
HAS she been i'll long timer"
ventured at last to inquire.
"For more than a year," he answer
ed briefly, and then quickly turned
the conversation upon some other
subject. Still, I could not help no.
ticing that q heavy burden evidently
lay upon his mind, that, try as hard
as he might, he could not entirely
shake off. 49,
Now, l do not think lam over sym.
pathetic, or have more than the or.
binary amount OF curiosity usually at.
tributed to woman kind, but all the
way home I kept thinking OF Jacks
little sweetheart, $50 many miles
away" and wished he would tell me
something more about her.
81 1t was the evening Of that same day,
remember, that he came TO me in
the parlor, and drawing me into a
quiet corner, said he wanted to ask
my advice upon a very important
subject. fs.55
Did think it would be possible 70,
him to make up the fir pillow all him
self? He used to hem the sails OF his
toy boats when little shaver, and
served a good apprenticeship in sewing
ION buttons when a college boy, and
thought he could still man age a needle
pretty well, ii I would only have the
Npatience to show him SsE @
Ofcourse, with q woman's incense.
guence, I Immediately offered to do
the whole thing for him. But no! he
thanked me just the same, hesaid. but
would really prefer to do it himself.
! Now. in spite OF my mature years,
still have stored away in my nature q